CREFC Industry Leaders 2016

The 2016 CRE Finance Council Industry Leaders Conference, held this week in Miami, was dominated by two topics– risk retention and liquidity. Almost all the forums, panels and presentations at the conference were overshadowed by the specter of risk retention and more general concerns about liquidity. While we at Crunched Credit have, during most of 2016, been deeply concerned about the likely impact of risk retention in 2017 and its knock-on effect in the run up to its effective date, we sometimes felt that we were preaching to an empty church. But boy, the pews are full now and the industry has well and surely woken up to the risks that the Risk Retention Rule poses for the business models underlying the CMBS industry.

Dechert’s Rick Jones participated on a panel with several other industry leaders to discuss risk retention in front of an overcapacity crowd. Many topics were covered in the lively and fast-paced discussion, but here is what is on the top of our minds: